“SURVEILLANCE”–royal and gay

“Surveillance”

Gay and Royal

Amos Lassen

One of the most interesting and controversial gay themed films making the festival circuit this year is a British independent film, “Surveillance”. The plot line concerns Adam, the hero who is drawn into a web of intrigue as evidence is planted on him concerning a royal gay affair. The acting is good and the plot holds a great deal of suspense. There are always rumors about royalty and I just wonder if the rumors that have surrounded Prince Andrew in the past were the inspiration for this film. Because of the nature of the plot I cannot say too much about it without spoiling it for you.

“Surveillance” has great style and looks wonderful and because of that, the narrative plays second fiddle. There was a wonderful idea somewhere in this film but it somehow lost itself. Filmed with hand held cameras and including images that were obviously taken from surveillance cameras, the photography which could have presented in a whole new way, became distracting after a while. Sometimes the camera work was so distracting that the plot was lost. The conspiracy that was presented—if there indeed was one-made me feel like, “so?” “Surveillance” had a great idea with good acting that was lost for whatever reasons. From a great idea can a good movie be found—in this case, the follow trough of the idea was lost and it appears that the director had no idea of where he was going with this film.